Beginnings
by denise3
Summary: Junior agent Gariff Lucsly of the Department of Temporal Investigations is sent on an unusual special mission. Partnered with a demanding senior agent, he must meet an alien renegade who has a history with the Federation: the Doctor!
1. Briefing

A/N: Third teaser for my upcoming series "The Enterprise and the Doctor".

Disclaimer: I don't own Star Trek, nor Doctor Who.

* * *

 **Chapter 1 - Briefing**

 _Personal Log, Gariff Lucsly, Stardate 27050.41. We have left San Francisco on the Falco, en route to Al Rijil VII, on an impromptu mission for the Department. I was forced to give up the plans for my upcoming leave when the message arrived, since I was the only other agent on call besides Agent Bel, after many agents, including my partner, went down with Zek flu and were quarantined. Agent Bel has just called a meeting, when I expect her to finally lend me the briefing papers which were somehow missing from my orders._

 **Stardate 27050.43 - Starship _Falco_ 's briefing room**

Agent Gariff Lucsly, of the Federation Department of Temporal Investigations, entered the briefing room early for his upcoming meeting, only to find Agent Bel already there. She acknowledged his presence with a minute nod towards one chair on the other side of the table, and continued working on her PADD. Lucsly dropped his own PADD on the table and sat with trepidation. Unscheduled missions like this one almost always meant something very wrong, and possibly very dangerous, had already happened and it was up to them to handle the consequences. In a way, he was lucky to be here, with one of the most experienced agents of the DTI. As a junior agent, he could use the opportunity to learn how to deal with situations like that. But that doesn't mean he had to like it.

Besides, he dreaded having to work with the unflappable Tozenor again. Last time he had almost lost his composure after the infuriating senior Agent, on the post-mission debriefing, had meticulously commented on how each one of his actions and decisions had somehow fallen short of his 'potential'. He had to admit, grudgingly, that she had been mostly correct, and he did take advantage of her input later on, but her patronizing ways were rather difficult to bear.

At exactly the appointed moment, his tall dark-skinned humanoid partner, with her deep black eyes and elongated face, lowered the PADD and stared at the younger agent. The top of her head was covered in a blue-grey fuzz, which descended to her neck and shoulders down the outside of her arms. She was dressed in the regular grey uniform of a DTI agent, but lacking sleeves, so her arm hair could be seen, forming tufts at the elbow.

"Welcome, Agent Lucsly. I gather you haven't been briefed on the details yet."

"No, ma'am, all I know is that we have to be on the central marketplace of the city of Tennaa, on the southwestern continent of Al Rijil VII, on stardate 27053.8." That was why they were aboard the _Falco_ , a small, fast courier assigned by Starfleet to the DTI for exactly these kind of missions. Otherwise they'd be going on a much slower runabout, and take one week or more on each leg.

"Precisely. It's a Code 17. I assume you are familiar with Special Code missions?"

Lucsly blanched, but otherwise kept strict control of himself. "Yes. I've been to three Special Code missions already, but none of them was a Code 17. How many Codes are there?"

"No one knows. Some suspect the Velarii add new Codes as they deem fit." She might have smirked at that, but Lucsly was uncertain. A Tozenor's facial expressions were often quite difficult to interpret. "But Code 17 is a relatively common one. I've been to a few of them myself."

He inwardly shuddered. The Special Codes were brief messages received from their mysterious allies through the temporal communicator device installed in the DTI Headquarters. They consisted only of a numerical code plus temporo-spatial coordinates, most of the times with just a few words added as a side note. The code was a reference to a prepackaged briefing, containing all the background a DTI agent would need to deal with a given situation, while the note, when present, would give the specific context with maybe a hint to guide the agents on the possible alternatives. The Velarii apparently were unwilling to give too much information, instead trusting the DTI agents to use their own judgment on the matter. It was one of the few things Lucsly appreciated about their alliance.

Since Agent Bel didn't seem to be going to volunteer more information, he decided to forge ahead with questions.

"What is a Code 17, then? Not a spacetime rift." That one had been frightening, but ultimately straightforward. "A lost artifact, maybe? Sorry, these are Code 2. I've been to one, already." It had been the most adventurous mission Lucsly had had up to that moment, what with the smugglers, pirates and the odd temporal agent all trying to take possession of the artifact and prevent the others from getting it. He'd be happy if he never had a mission like that again.

"Codes 10 and 12 deal with artifacts as well, but no, Code 17 is about tracking down an individual."

"A person. A dealer on ancient temporal artifacts?" She didn't blink, but frowned minutely. "A survivor from a time-displacement event?" No change. "A rogue temporal agent from the future?" All cases which would readily fall under DTI jurisdiction, the last being one of the worst threats the DTI was meant to fight and Lucsly's personal nightmare. Nearly as worse as a certain reckless Starfleet captain with way too many temporal violations under his belt.

"Neither. He's an alien renegade, of an unknown species, who sometimes drifts into Federation territory."

"A... renegade," he stated, struggling to keep his face impassive. Well, at least he's not a time-traveler.

"Most likely from a very advanced civilization, who can come and go as he pleases, without being intercepted by Starfleet."

"That doesn't explain why we are charged with dealing with him, instead of the diplomatic corps. Or, say, Starfleet Intelligence."

"The reason we are charged with, as you say, 'dealing' with him is that the Velarii are very interested in his comings and goings, and especially to ensure that no one tries to detain him."

"Why?"

"He may be a renegade, but they believe his people probably continues to keep tabs on him from time to time and they might decide to come looking for him if he suddenly disappears. That would be very bad," she said.

"So the Velarii probably know a lot more about him and his people than they are willing to tell us." He really wished the DTI wasn't the only Federation outfit the Velarii seemed to tolerate.

"That's a given. Anyway the Federation has already tried to capture the Doctor twice."

"The Doctor? But wasn't he-"

"The second time," she interrupted him, "the Velarii themselves intervened. The Federation might have been destroyed that day if it weren't for them."

Lucsly felt the chill on his spine at the thought. There were a lot more dangers to the Federation than the common citizen suspected. And at least a few of them came from such unfathomably alien advanced civilizations who either ignored their existence or dismissed them as unimportant. It was for reasons such as these that the alliance with the Velarii was valued and kept, in spite of all the stresses and difficulties.

"But he continues to visit us, even after that."

"He's a very... unusual... individual," she said. She would know that, having met him before, but Lucsly could only guess at what she meant by that.

"If I remember well," and of course he remembered his extensive studies of the infamous Starfleet officer, "James Kirk met the Doctor a number of times during his five-year mission as captain of the Enterprise." The problem was that that summed up almost all the information on him available to the public - and to junior DTI agents. So Lucsly was curious, in spite of himself.

"Indeed. As I was saying, the Doctor is not hostile to us, quite the contrary. He may not be very fond of Starfleet, or of us, but on occasion he has availed himself of our help or even offered his own. Both then with the _Enterprise_ , and now, when our agents are tasked with following him. Note that," she continued, before Lucsly could interrupt, "he will certainly detect our presence almost immediately, even before we manage to identify him. And he'll try to evade us. It's our job to avoid scaring him away while staying on his tail until we can complete our mission."

"Which is?"

"Find him, follow him, figure what he's up to this time, ensure that no one else tries to interfere with him, and stick with him until he leaves." She stopped but Lucsly knew it wasn't all.

"There's more," he said.

"Quite. There's also the special instructions." She paused, but this time Lucsly waited for her to continue. For once her smirk was recognizable enough. She finally said, "We are to deliver an object to him."

"Object? Which one?"

"This container," and she showed him a cylindrical container approximately thirty centimeters in length by eight centimeters in diameter. It was a dark grey object, decorated in silver whorls with intersecting lines, apparently made of some sort of metal, with no visible seams. Lucsly examined it. "It materialized along with the message," she said, motioning to her PADD, where he could see the received message in bright orange. "It's supposed to hold some sort of warning. We are to deliver it and wait until he has opened and read it, then protect him until he leaves."

"Protect?" He picked up the PADD. The translated message was terse, '17. Deliver admonition, safeguard subject'.

"Unusual, yes. But he does have a number of enemies."

Lucsly frowned. "We are not security guards."

"Nonetheless, that's our assignment. I'll talk to Captain Reginald, they can lend us a security detail."

He huffed. Definitely not a regular mission. He wondered if it could get any worse.

* * *

A/N: Agent Lucsly has only had a brief appearance on the TV, on the famous Deep Space Nine episode "Trials and Tribble-ations", but he and the whole of DTI are greatly developed in the Star Trek: Department of Temporal Investigations novels by Christopher L. Bennett. If you liked this story, or if you just like stories about time-travel-related problems, you'll probably enjoy his books.

I've invented the Tozenor specifically for this story, as yet another humanoid civilization within the Federation. I have developed a reasonable backstory for them, and they may appear again later, but there'd be very few individuals employed by the Federation outside their home systems at any one time, so they shouldn't be very common.


	2. Encounter

A/N: Al Rijil VII, also known as Alpha Centauri VII, is an M-class planet inhabited by Centaurans, who may be descendants from a group of Terrans transplanted from Greece in the 3rd century BC. Population numbers on the billions of inhabitants, most of them almost indistinguishable from Earth humans. It is the closest inhabited system to Sol in the Star Trek universe. At high warp, it would take approximately one day to go from Earth to Alpha Centauri.

Disclaimer: I don't own Star Trek, nor Doctor Who.

* * *

 **Chapter 2 - Encounter**

Lucsly entered the transporter room, still struggling to attach the Doctor identifier to a clip on his belt, from which the type 2 phaser already dangled. The bulky orange-colored device was to be used to verify the Doctor's identity, since he was some sort of shapeshifter and his current appearance was unknown. He raised his head to check on the group already waiting in the room. Agent Bel had yet to arrive, he noticed, silently congratulating himself on being early. Lieutenant Arrini, the Andorian officer in charge of the _Falco_ 's security detachment, was talking with the guards he had selected as their escorts but as he saw him enter he turned towards the young DTI agent.

"Here, put this on," he said, giving him the ear communicator. "It's already been integrated into our comm system. We'll track your position from here. Don't forget to check in regularly even if everything is all right. Otherwise we _will_ jump in."

"Thanks," Lucsly replied, trying to adjust to the sensation of the thing inside his ear channel. It had been modified to fit human ears, but he still felt something off. Using the devices had been the Andorian's idea, and he felt a little better knowing the lieutenant had their backs, figuratively speaking. Captain Reginald had recommended him as an outstanding security officer with a brilliant tactical mind and a very professional attitude, if somewhat opinionated. His help had been invaluable in analysing the available information and planning their approach. But the two DTI agents were still the ones who were supposed to initiate contact with their target, so Lucsly was feeling more than a bit nervous.

At least the alien was reportedly non-violent. Lucsly had spent hours meticulously inquiring the AI briefing program contained in the datapad, and it had confirmed most of what Agent Bel had already told him. It had also steadfastly refused to provide any information beyond what he already knew, with very few exceptions. It didn't matter how he phrased the questions, or what new angles he tried, it almost never deviated from its standard answer, 'IRRELEVANT', displayed on the screen. Irrelevant meaning of course that it refused to even consider the question. Therefore Bel had been impressed when he managed to extract the information that this time the Doctor was apparently accompanied by an 'unknown' person. The Doctor had been by himself the other times she met him so she hadn't thought about asking that question again. But that was all. He adjusted his shoulder bag and tried to follow the instructions Arrini was giving his team.

Agent Bel finally arrived, just in time for the scheduled transport, bringing only her own phaser, and the two DTI agents climbed on the transport pads. "Activate," she said, and the room dissolved around him.

The transporter brought them to a corner of Tennaa's central plaza, on higher ground, from which they had a view of the whole area. The market was bustling with people, both native and tourists, wandering around or stopping at the garishly decorated stands lined around the perimeter to look at their wares. Most wore the colorful gowns typical of the region. Lucsly moved at a quick pace towards the other end. His partner followed more slowly, keeping her distance to avoid spooking their target.

Lucsly looked around worriedly. He wasn't exactly short, but these people were taller than average humans, and he found he couldn't see very far. Agent Bel had remarked that while she might not be able to recognize his face, the Doctor would most likely be wearing very distinctive clothing. But he wondered how he'd be able to identify their quarry among all those flashy colors. Their plan hinged on their ability of spotting the Doctor before he slipped away, but it was harder than they had foreseen, even though the market wasn't crowded. He checked his belt again for the identifier. Unfortunately, it had a range of no more than five meters. Besides, he couldn't start pointing it around without attracting too much attention to himself.

While looking to his left, he glimpsed something. There was a young girl in a flowery dress warily looking around, as if watching for hidden threats. With her, there was a white-haired old man, wearing some sort of long black cape over a high-necked shirt, distinctive and oddly anachronistic. It was her attitude that had attracted his attention at first. But if Agent Bel was right about his clothes, that man might well be the Doctor. He stalked towards one of the alleys that exited on the plaza, and the girl hurried behind him.

Lucsly stopped half hidden by a tree and observed their progress, relaying their position through his communicator. The moment they turned into the alley, he called for transport.

Lucsly was beamed down just a few meters ahead of the man. He looked startled for a moment, but the agent approached with his arms open and his palms forward, in a gesture of peace. The man huffed, face indignant, but his eyes were deep and watchful, examining him from head to toe. He noticed the phaser clipped to Lucsly's belt and then pointedly ignored it.

"Excuse me, sir, are you the Doctor?" asked Lucsly. The girl had grabbed the man's arm and was anxiously watching him, but the Doctor just patted her hand reassuringly.

"Doctor who?" he asked back, eyes twinkling. "And you, my young man, what is your name?"

"Agent Gariff Lucsly-" he started, but the man was already turning towards the alley mouth, moving the girl protectively behind himself. An instant later, Agent Bel turned into the alley. She approached them, her hands clasped at chest height, palms outward. The Doctor relaxed and turned slightly to keep both agents within sight.

" _Barum salusar depak hatig_ ," he heard Bel saying, and Lucsly recognized that as the beginning of a formal Tozenor greeting for a respected senior. He had studied some Tozenor customs, after the last time they worked together. However their language was nearly incomprehensible by humans, since it used some sounds that couldn't be easily distinguished by human ears, or reproduced by human larynges.

" _Atik samar gateh_ ," the Doctor replied, after a brief moment. Well, apparently he could speak it. "You are far from home, hm? What is your name, my dear?" He was scrutinizing her even more closely than he had done with Lucsly, and he clearly noticed the slight hint of surprise that flashed through her face before she managed to school her features. Hell, Lucsly noticed it too, and his mind was rushing, trying to grasp the implications. "Ah, you've already met me, haven't you?" the Doctor asked.

"I'm really sorry, sir ..." she tried to say, but he had already turned back towards Lucsly and was considering him intently, while the young agent alternately gaped at him in horror and looked indignantly at his partner. The Doctor not only hadn't recognized Agent Bel, in spite of her having met him before, but he also wasn't surprised by her already knowing him. It was clear that the man must be a time traveler, used to meeting people out of order, and Bel had neglected to tell him that. As if that wasn't the most important bit of information in the whole situation!

Suddenly the Doctor closed off his face. "You'd better tell me _right now_ who you are, and who sent you here to find me," he ordered them imperiously.

In an instant it seemed that he had assumed full authority over their little group. Agent Bel nodded and answered, respectfully. "I am Senior Agent Bel'azikarrak and this is my partner, Agent Gariff Lucsly. We are from the Department of Temporal Investigations of the United Federation of Planets." He continued to glower at her, but she simply looked back serenely. "I'm sorry sir, but we need to confirm your identity," she finally said, nodding towards Lucsly.

Lucsly noticed that the girl was really scared now, observed them both wide-eyed while trying to hide behind the Doctor's back. The Doctor was regarding Lucsly again with a raised eyebrow. The agent controlled his anger and removed the identifier from his belt, pointing it at the Doctor, while he watched warily. The thing trilled softly. He nodded and said, "You are the Doctor." Then his hand slipped slightly to the left, and the device trilled again, in a different tune. Lucsly was surprised, it also seemed to recognize the girl. He turned it towards Bel, and it bleated instead.

The Doctor moved swiftly and removed the device from his hand before he could utter another word. "That's quite enough, young man. I hope you are satisfied that I am who you are looking for," he said, facing Bel. "Why are you here?" But his haughty, forbidding face failed to visibly impress the Tozenor.

"We have a message for you. Lucsly, please give him the container." The Doctor absentmindedly passed the identifier device to the girl and took the cylinder with both hands, examining it carefully, tracing with his fingers the spirals that decorated it. Then he raised his head and stared at Bel.

"You may go now," he commanded.

"No, sir. We are to wait until you open it, then we'll escort you back to your ship." She must have signaled the Andorian lieutenant, because he and three members of his team beamed down around them and quickly began to scan their surroundings.

Lucsly was certain he saw the Doctor tremble slightly when he noticed the armed security officers arriving around him. He realized that a lot of his posturing was likely just a mask, and that he was probably afraid they were there to arrest him. But when the old man realized the newcomers were just looking outwards and checking the perimeter, he pivoted back towards Bel. Glaring at her, he pressed one of the spirals in one end of the cylinder, and it clicked. Twisting the end, the Doctor opened it and peered inside.

"What is it, Grandfather?" The girl might still be afraid, but she seemed to be even more curious, as she tried to sneak a peek into the contents of the cylinder.

"Later, child," he chided her gently. She made a face, but obeyed and moved away. Then he removed a slim translucid green rod and what looked like a parchment scroll from inside the container. He examined the rod briefly and put it back inside. Then he quickly scanned the scroll. Raising his head and staring absently at the agents, he rolled it up, put it back into the cylinder, and closed it. He pushed the container into one of his coat's internal pockets and then asked the girl, "Now, please, give me back that horrid orange thing..."

At that moment a yell of alert was heard, and Lucsly instinctively jumped forward. He had been watching the two time travelers carefully, and the girl was closest to him, so he grabbed her and dragged her down to the ground, into a recess on the alley's wall. The orange identifier device jumped from her hands and came to rest three meters away, while all around them shouts and screams were heard, together with the shrill noise of phaser beams.


	3. Aftermath

A/N: I've made some changes to the previous chapter to try to clarify a few points. The DTI was organized mainly in order to protect the Federation and the timeline against the threat of dangerous temporal phenomena. Time travelers are one of the greatest threats to the integrity of the timeline. Agent Bel already knew that the Doctor was a time traveler, but neglected to tell Lucsly. He found out about it anyway.

Disclaimer: I don't own Star Trek, nor Doctor Who.

* * *

 **Chapter 3: Aftermath**

The girl was terrified, and Lucsly had to grab her arms and hold her to stop her from running towards her grandfather. The Doctor was hiding with Lieutenant Arrini and Agent Bel on the other side of the alley, behind a trash container. Phaser beams flashed down the alley between them, and the Starfleet security officers were answering them with their own. Lucsly couldn't see much else, but he could hear Arrini calling for reinforcements and coordinating their fire.

It wasn't long before the phasers fell silent and Arrini gave the all clear. Lucsly released the girl and she shot across the alley to check on the Doctor.

"Oh, Grandfather, are you hurt?" She was trembling and nearly sobbing.

"Susan, Susan, don't you worry about me. Are you all right, dear child?" He stood and carefully checked her for injuries.

Lucsly watched the others. Lieutenant Arrini left the alley on the opposite direction to the plaza, while Agent Bel stared for a moment at him before turning toward the Doctor and the girl. Lucsly was feeling strangely elated, almost drunk, and very much alive. It was probably the shock. it'd soon pass. Meanwhile, he'd rather keep some distance from his partner. He decided to follow Lieutenant Arrini.

He found the security chief standing with three other officers at the corner where the alley ended in a wide street, and he went to join them. Once there, he could see three dead aliens lying on the ground, being inspected for weapons by one of the officers. They were ugly, covered in brown fur, two meters tall and rather thin, with short snouts bristling with sharp teeth. He didn't recognize the species.

"Any idea who these guys are?" he asked the lieutenant.

"Assassins," was the disgusted reply, "they are probably hired guns. Whoever employed them is long gone by now. We've found their communicators but they're silent. One of them managed to escape."

"We should move away, they may try again."

"Hardly. Jones here said the last one seemed injured when he ran away. The _Falco_ 's scanners are trying to get a fix on his position so we can arrest him. We need someone who can answer questions."

"I thought your phasers were set on stun."

"They were, but these guys wouldn't do more than flinch when hit by a stun bolt. We were lucky there were only the four of them."

"Even so, it's better if we don't stay here. The locals are getting curious." In fact, a small crowd was beginning to gather around them, drawn by the noise and the confusion.

"Right, Agent. I have to stay here and wait for the local police, but Jones can go with you."

Taking Jones and another officer, Lucsly entered the alley to gather Bel and the two aliens. He was relieved to see there were two other security officers already with them. He asked Officer Jones where they could go. He didn't think the Doctor would be willing to beam up to the _Falco_.

"We should go to the firefighter station," Jones replied. "Just around the corner, in the plaza, that would be safe enough." He sent one officer ahead to check the place while the two of them turned towards the others.

"Agent Bel, Doctor, Susan, we have to get moving. This alley isn't safe," said Lucsly.

"You go ahead with them. I have to talk with Lieutenant Arrini." The Tozenor walked away briskly, as Lucsly watched, wondering what was going on inside her head.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

They got to the small firefighter station, an old, solid building which was still in use for the same purpose it was built for, centuries earlier. There a medical officer tried to check them up, but the Doctor and Susan refused, saying that besides a few scratches they were fine. The girl had rallied quickly and approached Lucsly, hugging him and brightly thanking him for saving her. Then she moved on, and now was talking animatedly with Jones. The Doctor sat in the chair next to Lucsly, and offered him a cup.

"It's hot cocoa, go on, drink it. It's just a pity they don't have tea. Everything is better with tea." The Doctor waited while Luscly sipped his cup. It wasn't great, but the hot drink made him feel a little better. Enough to decide maybe it was time to get some answers, and he could start with the alien beside him.

"Thanks, Doctor-"

"Young man," interrupted the Doctor, "it is I who have to thank you for saving Susan's life. I owe you. They were targeting her, and she doesn't know yet to duck."

"I thought they were firing on all of us."

"Well, yes, but she's the only family I have left, and I wouldn't forgive myself if something happened to her." Lucsly wondered why he'd brought her with him, but before he could ask, the Doctor continued. "I can see, from your partner's reaction, that I'll be back to your Federation in my personal future."

Lucsly could feel a headache forming. "Doctor, we really should not discuss this."

The Doctor chuckled. "Don't worry. It's obvious you're not fond of time travelers. That's a very prudent reaction, especially for a temporal agent. But my people have been doing it for longer than yours have learned to control fire. I'm not here to interfere or change history."

"Then, if you don't mind me asking, what are you here for?"

"Ah, I've heard there'll be an auction. A secret auction for some very special, rare artifacts. I came to check them, thinking that if the rumors were correct they certainly shouldn't be left for amateurs to play with."

"I believe you'd prefer they were left in your capable hands, then."

The Doctor laughed. "Quite true! But perhaps I won't need to take these with me. Agent Bel has explained your Department's mandate to me, and I'll be happy to let you have them. I've just asked to be allowed to examine them, to verify that they don't present any immediate danger to you.

Lucsly didn't like the idea of letting him get close to dangerous artifacts, most likely incorporating unknown temporal technology. But that was something he'd have to take to Agent Bel. "When will this auction happen?"

"In twenty three minutes, in this plaza, five blocks to our right, on the basement. I've already told Agent Bel. She's probably arranging something with your lieutenant and the local police. Don't worry, we'll leave soon." Lucsly wondered if it was that obvious that he was uncomfortable with the whole situation. Or maybe this Doctor was a telepath. He decided to change the subject.

"Is this your first visit to the Federation?"

"I've been to this galaxy a few times before, and it seems I'll probably be back again many times, but I believe it's the first time I've met officers from your Federation." Lucsly remembered the Doctor's initial reaction to seeing them and, knowing he was a renegade, he wondered if he had been afraid that they were under orders to arrest him. "You know, if you had this face when I first saw you, I don't think I'd have stayed around long enough to hear what you had to say."

Lucsly suddenly realized that might be the reason Agent Bel hadn't told him what the Doctor was. He still couldn't help his reaction to any threat to the timeline. If this was the Doctor when he was still early in his personal timeline, Lucsly knew that he would eventually change his mind about interfering, and this would eventally bring him into conflict with the Federation. Given what Lucsly knew about his future, it was better not to even think about it, to avoid letting him get any hint that might put Federation history at risk.

Lucsly noticed that the Doctor was watching him with a knowing glint in his eye. This alien renegade was smarter, and more dangerous, than he'd given him credit for. Mumbling an excuse, he was about to stand when the Doctor grabbed his arm, holding him in place. Despite his apparent age, the Doctor was very strong.

"Agent Lucsly, I'm serious when I say I owe you. The next time we meet, I might be able to return the favor."

"How do you know we'll meet again?" Lucsly asked, baffled.

"Well, I don't know, per se, but I sort of have a feeling this isn't the only time I'll see you."

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

They waited at the station, with the Doctor pacing around, seeming impatient, while his granddaughter looked curiously at everything. It seemed to take much longer than twenty minutes, and while they waited, they received a report that the last assassin had been found a few blocks away, killed by a close-ranged phaser blast. His pockets were empty, and without him, they had no other leads to pursue. Lucsly asked, but the Doctor claimed that he hadn't known the would-be assassins, and as for who'd be interested in killing them, he was evasive at best.

Finally Agent Bel called Lucsly, telling him that they'd successfully captured the sellers and many of the buyers, and that he could bring the Doctor to the auction site.

"Agent Bel," he said, hoping to dissuade her. "I don't think we should let the Doctor come close to the artifacts. It's against the regulations. Besides, they may be dangerous."

"Lucsly, you may not know, but the Doctor does have authority in this circumstance. The order recognizing his authority, especially regarding temporal phenomena, has never been revoked." Of course Lucsly knew about that order, which predated even the creation of the Department, but he couldn't believe that it'd apply to this situation. However Agent Bel didn't want to hear his arguments. "Bring him here, now, and Susan too, so we can finish this and let them go."

So Lucsly, with the help of the _Falco_ security detachment and a police escort, brought the two time travelers to the place of the auction. In spite of his worries, they arrived without further incident. In the basement of the building, the various artifacts had been laid in two long tables, ready for examination by the would-be buyers. The Doctor requested a tricorder and a pair of gloves from the assisting technicians and approached the artifacts, ignoring Lucsly who was observing him warily.

"From what we've found," Bel explained, "the artifacts have been retrieved from an old spaceship, crashed on a moon in a remote system in the Beta quadrant. The crash site has been there, undisturbed, for at least two millenia before some amateur archaeologists got lucky, finding a stash of recovered pieces of ancient technology. It seems the unfortunate crew had probably stolen them from some collection, since the pieces have obviously come from many different civilizations."

"Yes yes, I can see that," said the Doctor, giving little more than a glance and a brief scan to the first dozen or so artifacts, before stopping next to something encased in a crystal box. "Oh my, this one shouldn't be here. No, it shouldn't be here at all." Lucsly came closer. It seemed to be a spherical device with a diameter around sixty centimeters, but the upper half of the casing was missing, exposing an interior filled with metallic bands and loops, with small crystalls embedded in some parts. The lower half was covered with strange cursive writing and beautiful circular patterns. And down the middle of the device there was a translucid rod, with approximately three-quarters of it badly charred and fractured. However Lucsly could recognize it, from the less-damaged section.

"That rod looks identical to the one we've delivered to you, Doctor." But the alien renegade ignored him, and carefully opened the box.

"Is it safe?" asked Bel, approaching with a tricorder of her own.

"Oh yes, it's safe, I'm just surprised, this doesn't belong in this galaxy."

"What is it?"

"I believe you'd call it a log buoy, Agent Lucsly."

"It's radiating a lot of chronotons," said Bel.

"Chronotons? Hnf. It just fell through a rift, that's what left the trace energies you're detecting. Let's see, yes." The Doctor reached inside the device and pressed something, and a glowing hologram was projected over the device. It showed the same flowing writing that filled the lower case of the device. It was incomprehensible for the two DTI agents, but it seemed the Doctor could read it without a problem. Whatever the power source that had remained in the device after all this time, however, it was soon exhausted and the hologram fizzed out, leaving just some random sparks.

"A pity, yes. The rod contained a message, which has long been lost since someone stupid enough tried to activate and read it without the proper codes. The hologram showed the ship registration and mission. It was in an exploratory mission, but it must have met some sort of disaster, probably related to the rift the buoy came through."

"Is it from your people, Doctor?" asked Lucsly.

"Ah, no, it's not. You think it's from my people because of the message rod I received? No, that's a quite common device, many people use message rods very similar to this. This one is ancient, though." The Doctor reached inside the device again, deactivating the projector and stopping the sparks, but Lucsly thought he'd also seen him remove a small piece from the heart of the mechanism. He reached and grabbed his hand, but the Doctor opened it and there was nothing in his palm. "You're too distrustful, young man," he complained amusedly.

They moved on to the other objects. The Doctor eventually found two which were emitting dangerous amounts of temporal radiation, which the tricorders weren't capable of distinguishing from less dangerous chronotons, and the technicians quarantined them. There was a third larger one which he said would probably still contain some recoverable parts and pieces, if someone could manage to open the capsule without shorting the remaining stasis field. The field itself had malfunctioned a long time ago but had once preserved some sort of organism, if the degraded organic remains visible inside it were any indication.

There wasn't anything else that attracted the Doctor's interest, however. Some of the artifacts were similar enough to others the DTI had aprehended before that Lucsly and Bel had recognized them as instruments for measuring time distortions, temporal batteries and temporally shielded recorders. All broken beyond recovery. Others were completely mysterious. Though some of them were beautiful, all of them were, at least according to the Doctor, unrepairable. But they all had some sort of temporal signature, which apparently was the reason they were put in this collection. Someone had been very interested in temporal technologies, two thousand years before.

Once he'd seen all the objects, the Doctor was suddenly anxious to leave, so they escorted him and his granddaughter to their ship, a strange blue box parked unobtrusively in another alley on the other side of the plaza. Before they entered it, though, he turned to Lucsly and said, "It was a pleasure meeting you, Agent Lucsly, even if you don't think the same." Then the blue box disappeared, making a strange noise.

As they returned to the basement where the artifacts were being packed for transport, Agent Bel turned to him and said, "He liked you, Agent Lucsly. Your disgust with the situation notwithstanding, he was interested enough in you to cooperate with us. Given that apparently this was his first experience with the Federation, I'd say we were quite fortunate."

"Well, for my part I hope I'll never have to meet him again," he replied. But he feared he wouldn't be that lucky.

* * *

A/N: This is the first of three stories I've planned to write involving Agent Lucsly and the DTI, though the only one with the First Doctor. Each of these stories will be self contained and, though they may refer to later events in "The Enterprise and the Doctor", they're not necessary for understanding of that story. If the First Doctor is out of character here, it's in part because I'm not very familiar with him, but also because he's unusually friendly towards the agents that helped save his granddaughter's life.


End file.
